About

Into the Wild

Ashley Martin
ERWC Per. 2
Ms. Stockton
March 25, 2014
Into the WildThe book Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of a young man named Chris McCandless. He ventures off into the harsh, Alaskan wilderness and never returns. There are many people such as McCandless who end up abandoning society and attempt to fend for themselves and live off the land. Many are contemplating on whether it was society who drove these young men to the point of leaving civilization altogether or if there was really just something wrong with the minds of these individuals. Although society is flawed, the fault of McCandless’s death ultimately lies with himself. There is no real reason for a person to decide to forget the ways of civilization and venture off into the unknown. It is not a smart idea and whoever chooses this route is asking for a death wish. McCandless was said to always be a little different from everyone else. Carine, McCandless’s little sister said, “Even when we were little he was very to himself…He didn’t need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely.”(107) McCandless just didn’t quite fit into society; he was very different from most. Not only was he always a bit odd, he got a piece of information about his parents that just might have pushed him over the edge and drove him away from society. When he was in high school he found out that his father continued his relationship with his ex-wife while he was already legally married to McCandless’s mother. Since he found out about his father’s affair he was even more distant and as the years went by he grew angrier and angrier. (121-123) Once he was able he left his family completely and lived on the road, avoiding society all together. This led me to conclude that it was not society’s fault at all, it was in fact the individual. People could argue that society is very much materialistic and greedy but it did not make Chris McCandless or anyone else march into their...

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...Zack Krug
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Many people are intrigued by movies, books, and TV shows about the various amazing adventures one can take on while living in the outdoors. No story conveys this basic human need better than Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild” when a young man from a wealthy family abandons his life by giving his life savings to charity, ditching his car, burning all his cash, and hitchhiking to Alaska. But the hardest part to understand is the reasoning behind these actions. After reading the book, one questions the sanity of Chris and whether or not he was crazy or just a young man trying to find his true self. In order to figure out why he ventures out on his own we have to look at several different possible ideas. The allure of high-risk activities, the grip wilderness has on the American imagination and Chris’ strong mental capacity are all strong factors in McCandless’ reasoning.
Krakauer finds strong ways to convey young people’s attraction to high-risk activities, and this is evidenced through Chris McCandless’ actions. Throughout “Into the Wild”, the author talks about the many adventures that both he and Chris were involved in. These adventures seem to convey a real sense of excitement and spontaneity. When Jon Krakauer was getting ready to climb the Devils Thumb he went into details about how he might be biting off more than he can chew, but that was what made it so intriguing. The author writes,...

...Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
“Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is THE ROAD,” (163) and with those words, Chris McCandless declared his independence and walked into the wild bush of Alaska in May 1992. Little did he know that in three short months, his decaying remains would be found by moose hunters, only a few miles from where he began his journey along the Stampede Trail. Chris McCandless’s story, which was retold in John Krakaur’s book, Into the Wild, is a true testament to the idea of freedom and independence that has powered the foundation of American society.
Chris McCandless had always marched to the beat of his own drummer, as did many American heroes. Even when he was a child, Chris was known for being overly adventurous and a little less than cautious. This great sense of adventure frightened Chris’s family and friends ever since they noticed it when he was just a child. Because of this, his parents were horrified, but not completely shocked, when one day Chris departed from his typical life in Atlanta, Georgia and was never heard from by his family again. As a graduate of Emory College, Chris’s future potential would have been almost unlimited; he had so much ahead of him but threw it all away and spent the rest of his life on the road.
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...The Drive of Chris McCandless
“Am I better off dead, Am I better off a quitter” (The Script). The meanings behind these lyrics are very powerful and explain Chris’s journey almost perfectly. In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris’s takes on a challenge that is potentially fatal and he has the courage to continue on with it. Chris’s journey is a series of risks he is willing to take to achieve his goal. He has to make life threatening decisions that he could have backed out on at any given time. Some see Chris as a psycho for embarking on this journey alone and burning or abandoning everything of worth, where as others see Chris as a hero for taking risks and having the courage to separate himself from society to make a point.
Chris’s parents push him to finish college and live a successful life. He did not want his parents to tell him what to do and run his whole life so he decided to enter into the wild to live off the land for a while. Chris has an unhealthy relationship with his parents because they carry different values. Chris’s theory on any parents is, “I think he would have been unhappy with any parents; he had trouble with the whole idea of parents” (Krakauer 115). Chris disagrees with his parent’s decisions and values. They stand on different sides of the playing field and do not interact well with each other. Chris “Didn’t get along with his parents too good, I guess” (Krakauer 159). Chris made the decision to divorce them as his...

...﻿Missing Pieces of the Journey
The idea of traveling out all by yourself, into the wilderness with no map and little food and living off the land to discover yourself and the nature around you, may not be appealing to many. But after reading Jon Krakauer’s mysterious and passionate story of Chris McCandless’ journey into the wilderness it will cause anyone to dive deep into their soul and question their actions and wonder why someone with a seemingly perfect life would abandon all they have for “self discovery” as Chris does at the ripe age of 22 when he travels to and ultimately dies in Alaska. Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild illustrates Chris McCandless’ journey with enthusiasm and force and persuades the reader to question why throughout the story through powerful diction and anecdotes told by others about Chris’ past.
Krakauer interviews many people that impacted Chris at some point in his life; whether that be by talking in-depth with his family, whom he had a troubled and profound relationship with, or with those that he met and formed strong connections with while on his way to Alaska, like Wayne Westerberg and Ron Frantz. Krakauer talks to nearly everyone that Chris ever had a relationship with to view their outlook and thoughts on why Chris may have left and to develop Chris’ character. This allows the reader to form their own opinion of Chris and his adventure, based on how Krakauer portrays this information and his own opinion.
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...Rhett Jackson
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The novel Into the Wild is a nonfiction novel published by Jon Krakauer who investigated the life and death of a free spirited individual named Christopher McCandless. McCandless was a recent Emory University graduate who sought to suck the marrow out of life through an independent experience in nature and purposely sought to this experience in the rawest form of supplies. He was found dead in August of 1992 in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness. For the sake of his journey, he purposely didn't bring an adequate amount of food or supplies. Consequently, those who read of his actions wonder what evoked him to live the way he did. To explain this, Christopher's temperament type may adequately explain his actions and reasons for them. However, what was McCandless temperament type? Based on the evidence in the story, it's reasonable to infer Chris had an ISTP temperament type.
Consequently, opponents to this position may argue that McCandless gravitated toward the preferences of intuition and feeling. The story Into the Wild does provide evidence that McCandless engaged in intuitive behaviors. According to the Cornell Notes for Temperament Types, an individual who prefers intuition may be perceived as "attending to future possibilities" and prefers having a "big picture approach" to situations. Early on in the...

...﻿Taylor Winkler
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After completing college, McCandless set out into the wild, in search of himself. He was looking for his opportunity to express his values and ideas. He was seeking freedom, from his parents, from money, and from civilization. McCandless knew that this power and freedom was not attainable by remaining where he was. “The only way he cared to tackle a challenge was head-on, right now, applying the full brunt of his extraordinary energy” (Krakauer, P.111). He went into the wild with this mindset exactly. McCandless began his journey and settled in Lake Mead, California, where he was greeted with a flash flood. This lead to his only valuable belonging being damaged, his 1982,...

...Brendan Ortiz
Ms. Woelke
ERWC 414
13 December 2012
Into The Wild
“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us,” (Henry Thoreau). Throughout history there has been an allure for high-risk activities for young men of a certain mind. As you will find out many of these young men had there similarities and difference’s two McCandless but one thing each one of them had in common with one another is that these high risk activities pulled them in because of their beliefs and ideals. Chris McCandless just like the rest of these young men left everything to go into the wild. The difference between Chris and these men was their beliefs. Chris McCandless believed in becoming a free spirit unlocking the chains that society uses to restrain and snare mankind, also in becoming pure, and ultimately becoming reborn because society is corrupted, evil, brain washing, and wrong.
Chris McCandless passionately pursued his ideals of becoming a free spirit, and becoming pure. Wealth was something he struggled with intimately “wealth was shameful, corrupting, inherently evil-which is ironic because Chris was a natural-born capitalist,”(Krakauer 115). To understand why he wanted to be free you must first understand what he believed in by becoming pure. Chris although he was a “natural born,” capitalist, this was not actually natural Chris. What do I mean by that? Well society pressures others to become...

...The effect of society and experiences on one’s identity
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